Ultra-low-power MCUS deliver 10x system-level power savings and support floating-point arithmetic in iot applications

     Analog Devices announced the launch of an ultra-low-power microcontroller unit (MCU) designed to meet the rapidly growing demand for embedded advanced algorithms and consume extremely low system power when used at Internet of Things (IoT) edge nodes. The ADuCM4050 MCU contains an ARM® Cortex-M4 core with floating point units, extended SRAM, and embedded flash memory to support localization decisions, ensuring that only the most important data is sent to the cloud.

     The new MCU uses SensorStrobeTM technology to maintain a low-power state while Analog Devices' sensors and RF devices are still collecting data. This enables the ADuCM4050 MCU to save more than 10 times system-level power consumption, resulting in longer battery life or time between charges. It has also added some important enhancements to work in harsh environments.

     The ADuCM4050 also has enhanced security with encryption to provide designers with stronger IP protection and better protection against malware and theft. Supported encryption technologies include AES 128/256, SHA 256, block ciphers for code protection, key wrap, and HMAC. The new ultra-low-power MCU complements and is pin-compatible with Analog Devices' existing leading ADuCM302x family of devices.

     The ADuCM4050 MCU is targeted for applications where long battery life is critical, while also requiring safety, performance integrity, and the ability to pre-process and filter sensor data to eliminate artifacts and noise. Applications include clinical vital signs monitoring, intelligent power management, and asset health/plant equipment reporting.

     The ADuCM4050 supports multiple digital and analog sensor inputs through SensorStrobe technology, which can be combined to analyze their data for smarter, more complex functionality. As a result, there is no need to wake up the microcontroller frequently to report regular or partial data, resulting in significant power savings in the long term.

     The ADuCM4050's ultra-low power requirements are as follows: Power consumption is 40μA/MHz in active mode and drops to 680nA in sleep mode. The large capacity SRAM and flash memory (128kB and 512kB respectively) and the ability to retain almost all of the SRAM content allow the device to prepare data faster after waking from hibernation (sleep) mode, which is also an important power-saving feature.

     The ADuCM4050 works seamlessly with the industry-leading ultra-low-power low-G ADXL362 and the newly released ADXL372 micro-power high-G MEMS accelerometers, which are part of Analog Devices' ultra-low-power technology portfolio. SensorStrobe technology also works seamlessly with these sensors to further save system-level power.